Get Some Mojo

Eats


Last night, we made some pretty tasty fajitas/tacos and I wanted to share our process. First, the chicken marinated in Goya Mojo Criollo Marinade overnight. I really don't want to eat chicken another way - it was juicy and had the best flavor. Every chicken needs some mojo.
Next up, we sauteed a colorful mix of onions and peppers (some spicy) in a little EVOO.

Meanwhile, refried pinto beans went into a pot to warm up.

Normally, I would use corn or flour soft tortillas for fajitas, but we were fresh out, so I was happy to discover these hiding in the pantry.
After the onions and pepper cooked for awhile, we removed them from the pan so we could add the chicken w/ marinade to cook through. Then, we mixed the onions and peppers back into the chicken with some chopped tomatoes.

All together...topped with shredded cheese.

I was worried that the whole grain hard taco shells would taste too "whole grainy" - if you know what I mean - but they were incredible. Ortega Whole Grain beats Old El Paso any day. I ended up dipping my tacos into the beans before each bite. It was one of the most satisfying meals and SO simple.


The other day at work - I finally tried the German Chocolate Cake Larabar. I brought some greek yogurt to go with, but ended up eating it alone since I was crunched for time at work.
It was a pleasant surprise because I haven't enjoyed the other Jocalat larabars, but this one was great! Next time, I would top it with the almond butter for a major treat.

Last, but certainly not least - I had a wonderful salad for lunch today. Since I tend to be picky with salads, I was happy to find one I enjoyed so much. It was from Frisco Grille in Columbia, MD. Spinach, pinto beans, gorgonzola cheese, marinated/sauteed tofu, and cranberries. It came with a raspberry vinaigrette that I didn't use at all. The tofu was seasoned to perfection and all the flavors mixed together nicely.

Workouts/Running

I am currently training for the Baltimore Half Marathon on October 10th and finally feel like I am getting somewhere. Basically, over the past month or so, I have stopped all of my slacking and inconsistency and feel like I have gotten my mojo back. ;)

This week has gone well so far:

• Saturday: 17 mile bike ride
• Sunday: 6 mile run
• Monday: day off
• Tuesday: 6 mile run
• Wednesday: Jillian Michaels - Quick No Trouble Zones
• Thursday: 5 mile run
• Friday: day off (consider it done)
• Saturday: 10 mile run (planned) - I know it seems a little sudden for this long of a run since I haven't been posting my runs here regularly, but I did 8.6 miles the first two Saturdays in August.

Random

Anyone else watch Top Chef last night? Jen is a tough cookie and right now - I hope she goes all the way.

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Dinner Times Two (12.11.2008)

First, thanks for all your tips and well wishes regarding my hamstring injury. They were very helpful and everyone is so supportive!

My hamstring wasn't really hurting after the run on Tuesday, which is a good thing. However, my hip flexers were definitely sore. I figure that just means it has been awhile since I had a good run.

Last night (Wednesday) I made it to the gym for a 40 min workout on the arc trainer. My legs felt tired and I was sweating profusely, but I pushed through. Tonight (Thursday), I am resting at home - no workout!

Getting back to food...last night, I made a dish out of the Top Chef cookbook! This is the first recipe I have made out of it, only because alot of them seem pretty complicated. I enjoy just reading the recipes and learning more about the show and contestants. If any of you are a top chef fan, I would definitely recommend it.I decided on the Turkey and Pork Meatballs with Orecchiette Pasta and Spinach-Almond Pesto made by Casey and Dale on Season 3. I felt like I was participating in a Top Chef challenge because it said 2 hours prep time and I was trying to get it all done in 1 hour, so we could eat before 9pm! And before I took a bite out of Kevin's finger.Link to the recipe can be found here. I did make a few ingredient changes - all turkey in the meatballs, no pork. I also substituted whole wheat pasta that just arrived in the mail! I ordered some after reading MacDuff's post HERE. You should check it out.Overall, the recipe was good, but didn't blow me away. It was extremely garlicky, maybe too much for my taste. The meatballs took forever to make and most of them fell apart as I was cooking them. The ww pasta was great - so I am looking forward to trying some of the other varieties! (My picture looks exactly like the one in the cookbook, right? almost. I tried.) Will I make this recipe again? Yes. Although I will use less garlic in the Spinach-Almond Pesto and more almonds. Maybe even throw in some basil. I will also use pre-made turkey meatballs because those things took the most time and made a mess.

Thursday

Breakfast was broccoli, yellow squash, egg whites, and mozzarella with toasted ww bread w/ almond butter and a drizzle of agave nectar. This breakfast held me over really well!Getting home from work today, I was pumped to find the Smoothie King coupons that I won in Healthy Ashley's Smoothie King Giveaway contest. She also sent a sweet card - thanks so much Ashley! :)Skipping on to dinner tonight - it was a long overdue pizza night. I found some whole wheat boboli crust and wanted to give it a try.I introduce you to the best pizza sauce in the entire world. This stuff is incredible. I eat it with a spoon.Pour some sauce on the crust, then top with sauteed onions, yellow squash, red pepper, and spinach. I feel like something is missing.CHEEEEESE makes everything better. Especially fresh mozzarella cheese. man-oh-man.Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 mins. I broiled it for 3 mins at the end to make sure the cheese was nice and bubbly.Two slices later, I was full. But my sweet tooth is currently screaming at me, so I am going to have to find something in a few minutes!

One more thing. I am long overdue with product reviews from my Trader Joe finds, but I need to show you one thing immediately. Edamame Hummus.
Go buy this right now. If you live in Maryland - go quick, because it took us 2 days to get through this and next time - I plan on stocking up.

Good night!

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Bad Food Blogger Day (11.13.2008)

Today I didn't take pictures of anything! It was just a busy day at work and I wasn't hungry for much of anything. Which is SO weird for me. Nothing sounded good.

I AM super excited about tomorrow night though - going out to dinner with my mom and sister at The Red Maple in Baltimore! This is the restaurant where Jill Snyder from TOP CHEF is the executive chef. Should be fun and I plan to bring my camera to document everything!

My hamstring felt slightly better today - went for a long walk tonight through my neighborhood and didn't have to limp at all. I guess the rest is helping - but it is so hard for me to not do anything!

In animal news - I found out that Oscar and Lucy ARE related - love it!Hope everyone has a great rest of their Thursday night!

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Trader Joes Obsession

I have become slightly obsessed with Trader Joes lately because I haven't been in FOREVER. I keep reading about others going to Trader Joes, eating Trader Joes food, etc, etc. I kept thinking that the next time I would get to go would be over the weekend....if I had time...then...

I was browsing around the Trader Joes website, sending them multiple requests that they should open one up in my neighborhood, and I realized there is one 5 MILES from my work!!!! How could I have overlooked this?

So. freakin. excited. (Its the small things in life ;)) I drove over there immediately. Came back with a Mid East Feast for lunch!

Sorry about the low-quality cell phone picture. Unfortunately, my pick for lunch was just OK. The Falafel was too greasy for my taste, so I just munched on the other items.

This particular TJs had a "NEW" section to feature new products. I never noticed this in others I have been too. I picked up a Chocolate Chip Fruit & Nut bar for only 69 cents. I guess it is TJs version of the larabar.

It was extremely chocolaty and had nice chunks of chocolate chips and almonds. If you are craving chocolate - this is a great treat.

Nutrition Facts: Calories:170, Total Fat: 4.5g, Fiber: 5g, Sugars: 21g, Protein: 3g. Not too shabby.

I also picked up some TJ Greek Yogurt (honey flavor), slivered almonds, veggie chips, and a few other new bars for me to try!!

This could be bad because I may want to go over there every day now to browse and see the new products...hmm.

In other news - thanks to my sister for reminding me that TOP CHEF starts tonight @ 10pm, Bravo. I love this show!

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Flop

Dinner was supposed to be amazing. Grandmom had given me a mixture of stewed tomatoes, cabbage, and yellow squash. She also gave me some banana cream pie. I had mahi-mahi thawing in the fridge with hopes of doing something amazing. This mahi-mahi had been swimming in the atlantic ocean a few weeks back before Kevin caught it on his deep sea fishing adventure. I got home and found a simple marinade that I whipped up in no time. It said it only needed 45 mins to soak in, so while it was marinating, I was running.

With all those positive factors, the fish was horrible. I am not even going to give the recipe for the marinade because i would not recommend it to anyone. I could only get two bites down and the second bite had fage smeared all over it.

Grandma's vegetable side dish was, of course, delicious and I also heated up a piece of TJ Naan bread to go with everything. Here is my plate before digging into everything but the fish - yuck.
Since I didnt get much protein and I was still hungry - I ate the rest of the 0% Fage greek yogurt and added some blueberries and GoLean Kashi Crunch.For dessert, I ate my serving of grandma's banana cream pie - it was soooo good. I ate it all before I could take a picture!

While I was NOT eating the mahi mahi - I was reading "Her Sports", a magazine i started getting and have no clue how. Let me just say - does anyone's abs really look like this??! I wish mine would. Maybe I shouldnt have eaten that banana cream pie? that might be a place to start.
But anyway, I came across an article about FISH! They categorized fish into three categories:
YES FISH,
SOMETIMES FISH, and
NO FISH

Mahi-Mahi was under the SOMETIMES FISH category because "these types of fish may have elevated toxins or are in danger of being overfished."

Below is the list of the NO FISH from the article since "these fish have high toxin levels and are harvested in environmentally damaging ways."

• Farmed Atlantic Salmon
• Shark
• Grouper
• Orange Roughy
• Chilean Seabass
• Marlin
• Swordfish (imported)
• Bluefin Tuna
• Pacific Rockfish
• Red Snapper
• Tilefish
• American Eel

I am off to watch Project Runway - hope everyone has a great night! :) Oh and during the commercials I will be reading my TOP CHEF cookbook (thanks to my sister) to try and find some cool recipes and inspirations!P.P.P.S - I am really excited because tomorrow I am going to be getting half of a produce share my sister gets from a local farm. I cant wait to check out all the stuff!

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